Andy Rubin's smartphone startup signs a deal with the smallest of the big four carriers.

The "Essential Phone." Check out the camera dead space and the extra-tall status bar.

Essential

The back contains a fingerprint sensor and two cameras.

Essential

The colors.

Essential

This shows the Essential charging dock, and we get a good look at the side buttons.

Essential

The bottom has a speaker, USB-C port, and a SIM tray. There's no headphone jack.

Essential

The "modular" connector on the back magnetically attaches and powers accessories.

Essential

Here you can see the pins on Essential's 360-degree camera. Since the modular system only provides power, data gets transferred wirelessly.

Essential

The camera attached.

Essential

Andy Rubin, the father of Android, has a new smartphone company in the works called "Essential." Its first flagship smartphone, the "Essential Phone," is launching soon in the US for $699. While most upstart smartphone companies (see: OnePlus) opt for an unlocked-only, direct-sales model, Essential is actually doing carrier deals. Well, onecarrier deal: the device is going to be a Sprint exclusive.

Further Reading

Speaking to USA Today, Essential President Niccolo de Masi was very nice to his launch partner, calling Sprint "the network of the future" and saying, “We like to bet with where we think the market is going as opposed to where the market was.”

More likely, Sprint is the smallest of the big four US carriers, and therefore the most open to doing a deal with an unproven smartphone company. The "network of the future" is a tough label given that Sprint didn't have enough money to compete in the most recent spectrum auction.

Essential recently raised $300 million in venture capital, valuing the company at nearly $1 billion. In addition to the phone, Essential has an Amazon Echo Show-style home assistant in the works, along with a few modular accessories for the Essential Phone.

It's not quite the mainstream launch that some hoped for, but with Sprint on board, people will at least be able to walk into a brick-and-mortar store and give the new smartphone a try. Sprint is planning a "Hero Launch" for the Essential phone, with some amount of advertising push.

The Essential phone will ship sometime in June.

Ron Amadeo
Ron is the Reviews Editor at Ars Technica, where he specializes in Android OS and Google products. He is always on the hunt for a new gadget and loves to rip things apart to see how they work. Emailron@arstechnica.com//Twitter@RonAmadeo

123 Reader Comments

Speaking to USA Today, Essential President Niccolo de Masi was very nice to his launch partner, calling Sprint "the network of the future," saying “We like to bet with where we think the market is going as opposed to where the market was.”

Where "we like to bet" = they're the only ones who returned our calls.

Wait, what? Please tell me that the Sprint thing is an option, but that you'll also be able to use the phone on any other carrier, too?

Correct. The version sold at Sprint will work on any US carrier.

Ah, okay, thanks. And, sorry to be obtuse, but they are also selling the devices directly to consumers, right? Like Google sells both carrier-agnostic phones on the Play Store and branded phones at the carrier stores?

I have been a Sprint customer since I was a Nextel customer, so roughly 16 years now. I have never had a reason to leave, and unless they sell out to a terrible company, I do not see myself leaving. The customer service has been beyond helpful more than a few times in the past when I needed them to be and while the service can be oddly missing at times, it is covered everywhere I go.

I just hate how they get shafted out of some of the nicer phone options.

Edit - And without a 3.5mm it appears this is not the exception to that.

Flagship price with no waterproof, no 3.5 jack (yes, I do use it everyday, and no, bluetooth/adapter won't work, i tried), that weird camera on the top center and God knows about updates. Also a new "standard" for modules, because we need more of them, right?

OnePlus 3 was the closest to be a "perfect" phone. Sadly they screwed up with updates. OP2 won't be getting Android N and OP3 probably won't get Android O. Also their customer service sucks. I don't know which phone to buy now to replace my aging (but reliable and working) Nexus 4.

I have been a Sprint customer since I was a Nextel customer, so roughly 16 years now. I have never had a reason to leave, and unless they sell out to a terrible company, I do not see myself leaving. The customer service has been beyond helpful more than a few times in the past when I needed them to be and while the service can be oddly missing at times, it is covered everywhere I go.

I just hate how they get shafted out of some of the nicer phone options.

Edit - And without a 3.5mm it appears this is not the exception to that.

Sprint deserves every bit of hate it can get. Their network is so grossly underpowered it really isn't funny.

Some how, some way, some slick Sprint salesperson got my company to switch from Verizon to Sprint. The service was so bad that they had to try to put repeaters on our building to get the signal into the building! Sitting in my apartment, I had to put my phone on the window sill if I wanted to get reception. You know Sprint's reaction was? "We usually have compliments on our service, we have no idea what is going wrong."

Needless to say after many, many complaints, we went back to Verizon as soon as the initial contract was up.

I have been a Sprint customer since I was a Nextel customer, so roughly 16 years now. I have never had a reason to leave, and unless they sell out to a terrible company, I do not see myself leaving. The customer service has been beyond helpful more than a few times in the past when I needed them to be and while the service can be oddly missing at times, it is covered everywhere I go.

I just hate how they get shafted out of some of the nicer phone options.

Edit - And without a 3.5mm it appears this is not the exception to that.

I joined Sprint during their "Network Vision" gimmick. I thought maybe they were going to get their act together. What I thought I was getting was a fast network with more advances on the way. What I got was spotty service and poor speeds. Never again, Sprint...

I have been a Sprint customer since I was a Nextel customer, so roughly 16 years now. I have never had a reason to leave, and unless they sell out to a terrible company, I do not see myself leaving. The customer service has been beyond helpful more than a few times in the past when I needed them to be and while the service can be oddly missing at times, it is covered everywhere I go.

I just hate how they get shafted out of some of the nicer phone options.

Edit - And without a 3.5mm it appears this is not the exception to that.

You probably never leave your city.... Or go to sub levels in high rises. Or ride elevators. Or.....

Sprint did have money to compete in the auction (they've been trying to convince regulators to let them buy out T-Mobile for tens of billions of dollars), but their owner Masayoshi is driving the company into the ground. He just refuses to invest any real money into infrastructure, spectrum, or employees. He bought sprint no doubt in the hopes of also buying T-mobile and coasting along as the overpriced "underdog" in a 3 way oligopoly the way it is in Japan with his SoftBank.

I used Sprint for many years: had an unlimited data plan and stuck with it.And now, with Fi, I do sometimes still find myself on Sprint. The usual clue is that my phones shows a LTE connection, but no data is coming across. When I check, I see that I've connected to Sprint. The usual fix is to switch to TMob and voila, things start working again.

It's too bad ... I'd love to see Sprint return to being an actual carrier. But, most importantly, I hope Fi continues forever and I don't have to think about carriers anymore ...

In any case, it's certainly not an argument for the "essential" phone.

Essential phone is a loser, compared to other 2017 Android phones released this year:

* No 1440p (Only 1312p which is ALMOST QHD. For the money they are charging, should be full 1440p. I've had 1440p AMOLED since 2014, and I'm not downgrading.)

* No headset jack

* Battery way too small for the display size (Don't say use is "optimized". Give me a larger battery first, then optimize all you want to make it BETTER. Lesser spec phones this year have 4000 mAh, even 5000 mAh batteries. I have 3900 mAh on my 5.2" 1440p AMOLED Moto XT1225, so it's not hard for a competent manufacturer to do. Nobody is begging for credit card thin phones, while everyone wants a larger battery. Again, for the money, why are you skimping on a battery?)

* No front-facing stereo speakers

* No IP68 water resistance (nor any water resistance whatsoever, when this is becoming standard)

* No Qi built-in wireless charging (It has a ceramic back, in spite of the "titanium" claim. Even Apple is adding Qi wireless charging this year, LG has added it back, Samsung never dropped it. If I have to plug a mod in for some kind of wireless charging then that prevents other mods. BUILT IN Qi wireless charging.)

No sale.

It’s not hard to include all those specs. Why won’t someone do it?

All we want is a an updated "regular" sized Moto Nexus 6 (headset jack, 1440p AMOLED, front-facing speakers, Qi wireless charging) -- but with a bigger battery like the 2014 5.2" Moto Quark which has a 3900 mAh battery. Phones with lesser specs this year have 4000 or even 5000 mAh batteries. It's not hard.

I have been a Sprint customer since I was a Nextel customer, so roughly 16 years now. I have never had a reason to leave, and unless they sell out to a terrible company, I do not see myself leaving. The customer service has been beyond helpful more than a few times in the past when I needed them to be and while the service can be oddly missing at times, it is covered everywhere I go.

I just hate how they get shafted out of some of the nicer phone options.

Edit - And without a 3.5mm it appears this is not the exception to that.

You probably never leave your city.... Or go to sub levels in high rises. Or ride elevators. Or.....

I dont live in the city, but do work there. Use elevators some what regularly, but even if my phone doesn't pick up in one, I mean, I am usually off in seconds. Idk, I am pretty varied.

There are times it can be spotty at my house, but then I use wifi calling. Several years back I lived in BFE where I had practically no signal but Sprint gave me a femtocell that gave me full strength at the house (more of that customer service I was talking about).

I hate that it sucks for some people, but I am 31 and have had Sprint since I was 15 so...over half of my life....

I do like that I get downvoted for liking Sprint though. As if I am here lying or something. lol.

Essential phone is a loser, compared to other 2017 Android phones released this year:

* No 1440p (Only 1312p which is ALMOST QHD. For the money they are charging, should be full 1440p. I've had 1440p AMOLED since 2014, and I'm not downgrading.)

* No headset jack

* Battery way too small for the display size (Don't say use is "optimized". Give me a larger battery first, then optimize all you want to make it BETTER. Lesser spec phones this year have 4000 mAh, even 5000 mAh batteries. I have 3900 mAh on my 5.2" 1440p AMOLED Moto XT1225, so it's not hard for a competent manufacturer to do. Nobody is begging for credit card thin phones, while everyone wants a larger battery. Again, for the money, why are you skimping on a battery?)

* No front-facing stereo speakers

* No IP68 water resistance (nor any water resistance whatsoever, when this is becoming standard)

* No Qi built-in wireless charging (It has a ceramic back, in spite of the "titanium" claim. Even Apple is adding Qi wireless charging this year, LG has added it back, Samsung never dropped it. If I have to plug a mod in for some kind of wireless charging then that prevents other mods. BUILT IN Qi wireless charging.)

No sale.

It’s not hard to include all those specs. Why won’t someone do it?

All we want is a an updated "regular" sized Moto Nexus 6 (headset jack, 1440p AMOLED, front-facing speakers, Qi wireless charging) -- but with a bigger battery like the 2014 5.2" Moto Quark which has a 3900 mAh battery. Phones with lesser specs this year have 4000 or even 5000 mAh batteries. It's not hard.

Even 1080p is more than needed on a phone, this qhd bullshit is just a waste of batteries, and the only place the difference is visible is the spec sheet. Stereo speakers on a phone also seen a bit redundant to me, ie not an essential feature. Other than that you have some good points, water-resistance and battery size are very much to be considered essential aspects of a phone.